Water Crises in Buea
By Juliana Ndolo Mbua
Accessing water in Buea for household and industrial use has recently become a thorny issue. The demand for water in the municipality has increased in geometric progression, while the supply has steadily dwindled over the years, given climatic and infrastructural constraints. The people of Buea thus have their level of doubts double every morning as they rise up to fetch water for household and communal use. In fact, “water crises” is an understatement of the actual picture the inhabitants of this erstwhile colonial capital of German Kamerun go through to survive the shortages in water supply.
Families have resorted to night vigils at public taps hoping to fetch water at night. Unfortunately some very cold nights roll by with no signs of water dripping from public stand-taps. Families spend long valuable man-hours in search of water, time that could be ploughed into profitable activities. The reasons for water shortage as propounded by technical agents at the Cameroon Water Corporation (SNEC) regional agency in Buea suggest that Buea has a naturally low supply “endowment” of water. As a result the supply of water dwindles and people are almost bound to suffer from shortages at peak periods coinciding with the dry season. Some experts blame widespread growing of eucalyptus trees near water catchments. These species of trees are known to consume a lot of water from the soil.
These water stress and strains are reduced during the wet season. “Welcome Mr Rain,” Mrs Nana of Bonaberi Quarters in Buea, shouted as she expressed her joy to the first rains at the onset of the raining season. “We have suffered enough, my children could hardly have water to take a bath before going to school in the morning and after school they spent their entire day in search of water for cooking.” Farmers along the Upper Farms farming zone and in nearby hamlets in Bova, Bonakanda and Bokwaongo also expressed sigh of relief for the future of their crops. Weather forecasts reveal the growing season this year will be endowed with abundant rainfall to ensure the tropical greenery of croplands. The question to ask is; for how long will the rains fall and how soon will people go back to their regular sufferings?
Water is one of the most essential basic necessities of life. The absence of water has often been described as the absence of life, but water shortages, in the scenario of global climate change, are a reality which the people of Buea are bound to face. According to Mrs Liengu Sarah of Clerks Quarters in Buea, she has had enough of the stress from water shortages and prays the rains fall throughout the year.
Mr Christopher Ntui a professional farmer who grows maize, yams, tomatoes and plantains explained that although the violent winds which accompany the rains seem to be unfriendly to his crops, he prefers spending time mending his fallen plantain stems, broken maize stalks and falling tomato crops than watching them wilt under dry scotching heat that ordains poor harvest.
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